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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Oh I can't be arsed to cook: Sole Bonne Femme

Now we know there are some real cookery virtuoses amongst you. Yes, you know who you are. Thing is, when you come home at night, after a hard day slaving over a hot i-Mac, you just can't be ARSED to do anything clever in the kitchen. Worry no more! I have taken upon myself to do a mini series of absolute travesties of real recipes - for folks without the time and energy. You have an FP guarentee that these taste good, look impressive and give the genuine impression of having spent half the day in the kitchen. In deference to Escoffier, the Roux brothers and Gordon "F-ckin'" Ramsey, I shall endeavour to include a link to the REAL recipe at the bottom.

INGREDIENTS:

Frozen - but defrosted - rolls of sole.

Cheap bottle dry white wine (Riesling is good)

Fish stock powder or cube

Bayleaf

Bouquet Garni

Creme Fraiche

Cornflower

Shallots (but only if you can be arsed to peel and chop finely.

1. Butter a big flat dish and put the shallotts finely chopped in the bottom.

2. Lay the rolled up soles on top and half cover with wine.

3. Have a glass of the wine just to check it's OK. Actually you should do that first.

4. Put the bayleaf and bouquet garni in the wine round the fish. Salt and pepper.

5. Uncovered, middle of the oven at 180° for about 20 minutes.

6. Take out, remove fish and drain off wine - put through a sieve if bitty.

7. Boil it up and add the fish stock powder or cube.

8. Put in a small tub of creme fraiche and let that melt in nicely.

9. You can either stand and wait while the sauce thickens or if you're too tired to stand there you can thicken it up with a little cornflour. Cheating I know.

10. Once the sauce is thick enough, pour over the fish and serve.

If you want to spend considerable more time in the kitchen, here's how to do it: